I grew up on Cartoon Network, mostly Toonami and Adult Swim. Dragonball/Z/GT, Rurouni Kenshin, Wolf's Rain, Inuyasha .hack//sign, all of it! When I was in like 9th grade, I kind of took a hiatus from anime, but in 2012 I watched Toradora and Waiting in the Summer and fell in love all over again.

I watched Pokemon/Digimon as a kid, and when I was in high school a friend showed me Akira, but if I had to choose, I'd say it was another show I had seen as a kid that convinced me there might be something more to anime and caused me to listen to my friend about Akira in the first place. Cardcaptor Sakura. I still have those DVDs..

Sword Art Online showed me what it's like to find a series that completely resonates with you, it's probably the only series in which i'll remember every single detail when i'm sitting in my wheel chair at a nursing home.